Pay it Forward and Backward Now!

In The Financial Brand's article Credit Unions, Here’s That Awareness Campaign Everyone’s Been Waiting For, editor Jeffry Pilcher is advocating a national pay-it-forward campaign.

What if one day, every credit union in the world sent out representatives to perform hundreds of thousands of good deeds, nice gestures and other random acts of kindness?

Jeffry is suggesting that International Credit Union Day in October 2012 would be an ideal day to make it happen. I really like this idea and think that credit unions could really make this happen.

But what if you took it up to a whole other level and made it happen now? I mean right now!

Last week during our Marketer Meet-up, we split the attendees into three teams and tasked them with coming up with a compelling member drive campaign concept. One idea that struck me as exceptional was the notion of offering a rebate for an overdraft fee from a competing financial institution! Bring in a statement that shows the fee, move your primary checking account, sign up for at least three services including direct deposit of your paycheck and the credit union will credit your account up to a maximum of $25.

Credit unions are notoriously afraid to ask for the business, but this approach would make the conversation so much easier and natural. Credit unions would essentially be saying, "Hey, your bank won't give you a break, but we will. In fact, we'll pay you back for that thing they did to you that has brought you to this boiling point."

Photo by Ninja Cherepashka

Now imagine combining this rebate concept with the pay-it-forward concept and organizing a street team to decend on the Wall Street protesters right now. Print a wallet-sized promo and insert a $10 bill to pay forward and a voucher explaing the overdraft fee rebate. CUNA or the Credit Union Association of New York could rally all area credit unions and make this happen right now.

It would receive positive national media attention and shine a light onto the differences between banks and credit unions.

Credit unions are exactly what millions of disenfranchised, educated young adults are looking for, they just don't know credit unions exist. 

What do you think?

Tim

Young & Free Marketer Meet-up a success!

Since reaching 10 active Young & Free regions, we've been wanting to get our partner credit unions together to meet and learn from one another. We made it happen last Wednesday in Fishers, Indiana. We combined this experience with the CU Water Cooler Symposium 2011 to make the trip more than worthwhile for all of our attendees.

Eight out of 10 Young & Free Spokesters were able to attend. After the first session of the day, they broke off with Cheryl for the Spokester Summit to learn from each other and to collaborate on a series of videos to be released later this month.

The remaining 23 marketers worked together at the Marketer Meet-up. Brent Dixon and Ron Shevlin graciously took time to be our guest speakers and each of the regions represented presented an area that they excel at. The energy in the room was fantastic as everyone learned, laughed and shared. It was great to see friendships made and cooperation and collaboration in action. 

As part of the presentation, we put together this 2011 highlight video.

Combining this event with the CU Water Cooler Symposium made for a magical experience. Thanks to everyone who was able to make it!

Tim

Are credit unions too local for Gen Y?

Matt Mills, the new Young & Free Indiana Spokesperson, just released a video that explains shared branching. It's excellent, take a look:

I have never heard the phrase "a credit union is simply too local" uttered before. I've known that accessibility is a significant barrier for young mobile adults, but I'd never heard it put so simply and bluntly.

For a century, credit unions have trumpeted how local they are. For some, it's the entire thrust of their messaging. For the next generation of members, it could be one of the biggest put offs.

Technology, shared branching and ATM networks go a long way to solving this problem, but the biggest hurdle is perception and understanding. Matt is an example of a typical 20-something and his opening line should make you think long and hard about your credit union's situation, "When I was first asked to join a credit union, my initial thought was NO WAY."

This begs two questions:

1. How many of you are asking young adults to join? I don't mean on billboards, TV or banner ads. I mean really asking in person at events, through physical referrals. Credit unions are way too polite and never ask for the sale. It is critical to be where Gen Y physically is. Not just on Facebook, I mean at events and on campus.
2. What are you doing to show that your credit union is not too local? This is a barrier to entry that needs to be acknowledged and addressed.

Tim

Newsflash: Credit unions losing favor with young consumers!

This press releases from MyCUSurvey.com caught my eye this week. 

MyCUsurvey.com National Member Research Reveals Credit Unions Have Less Appeal for Young

The latest survey revealed a direct correlation between the age of credit union members and customer satisfaction. According to the findings, there is a 30 point difference in satisfaction ratings between older members (over age 65), and younger members (under age 30); older members are just more satisfied with their credit unions.

Great, so in addition to the fact that credit unions are having extreme difficulty attracting new young members, we now know that they are doing a poor job at satisfying those young members that they do have. So, what to do about it? The founder of the study, Dr. Jack Bieda, offers this advice:

“The convenience of web and mobile banking and other trends are undermining credit union member satisfaction. It’s clear that credit unions need to find a way to attract younger members and get members to visit their branches for a more personalized banking experience in order to cement the member relationship.”

I agree that credit unions need to find a way to attract younger members, but thinking that getting them to visit a branch will do the trick is exactly the opposite of what young people want. What they want is "the convenience of the web and mobile" that most credit unions simply don't have!

This advice is like telling the record stores of a decade ago that the best way to combat digital downloads is to get young people into their stores. Or advising the newspaper industry that the best way to combat Craiglist is to find a way to sell more classified print ads.

How about advising credit unions to become better at web and mobile banking?

Tim

Alabama spreads the word by Flashmob

Our client, Listerhill Credit Union, is in the throws of searching for their second Young & Free Alabama Spokesperson to find a worthy replacement for Chris Anderson.

A major part of Listerhill's on-going growth strategy centers around building and nurturing its reputation with the students at the University of Northern Alabama campus in Florence. To further this goal, Listerhill recently opened a UNA campus branch at staffed with students who got the job through a recruiting contest.

It's through these efforts and long-term relationship building that they were able to pull off this amazing Young & Free Flashmob yesterday. Check it out!

The marketing team at Listerhill may be small, but they are mighty! This is an excellent example of low-cost guerilla and word-of-mouth marketing.

A hat tip must go to Innovations Credit Union for orchestrating the first credit union Flashmob and providing the inspiration for the T-shirt reveal at the end.

Tim

Hey, want to see what the Canadian big banks and big credit unions are up to?

A common question that our clients ask is, "How do our young adult marketing and social media efforts compare to other banks and credit unions?"

I typically answer with something like, "Oh, you are doing awesome!" This isn't necessarily enough info to satisfy their curiosity, so I decided to do some heavy duty investigation, document what I found and share everything with all of our clients and blog readers.

As I began to work through the project, I decided to break the findings down into two separate reports—one for Canada and one for the U.S.

First up, Canada! I’ve added my opinions and graded each financial institution based on how they are doing with products and services for young adults, marketing to young adults, social media activity, and finally, how they are doing with integrated product marketing.

Five largest Canadian banks
• RBC (Royal Bank of Canada)
• TD Canada Trust
• Scotiabank (Bank of Nova Scotia)
• CIBC (Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce)
• BMO (Bank of Montreal)

Other banks with substantial operations in Canada
• HSBC Bank of Canada
• ING Direct Canada
• ATB Financial
• Canadian Western Bank

Ten largest credit unions in Canada
• Vancity
• Coast Capital Savings
• Servus Credit Union
• Meridian Credit Union
• Envision Financial
• Conexus Credit Union
• Steinbach Credit Union
• Assiniboine Credit Union
• First Calgary Financial
• Affinity Credit Union

Co-operative marketing programs
• Desjardins Group
• Central 1 Credit Union

This is a living document, as I intend to add to it and update it periodically. If you have additional information or corrections to share about any of these financial institutions, please add to the comments.

+ Download PDF (3.7M)

I will publish the U.S. counterpart within the next month.

Enjoy!

Tim

Times Square, credit unions and Gen Y

Photo by Tony Shi

I was in New York City speaking at the How Magazine Mind Your Own Business conference yesterday. I was on a panel speaking with two other agency owners who have specialized the focus of their firms. The conference was a nice chance to swap war stories with entrepreneurs in similar situations and spend some time away from the office thinking about our business. It was also a welcome mini-break from the credit union conference circuit to get some outside perspective.

After my session, I took a wander through Times Square and I was struck by the shear magnitude of marketing messages being bombarded at me. I was also struck by how all of the messages where directed at young adults. The 100-story model photos, the mobile phone ads, the live tweets streaming on animated billboards, the music and fashion ads, the lifestyle brands and celebrity spokespeople. All young, all the time. Not one Cialis ad to be seen!

This is what the inside of a 20-somethings head must look like. Everybody wanting in. All attention aimed at the largest generation in history. Everyone wanting a piece of this impending spending power.

It's no wonder members of Gen Y are so good at filtering out marketing messages. And it's also no wonder why members of Gen Y have no idea what a credit union is!

Tim

Social media? Check!

This past Monday I spoke about Young & Free at the CUNA Councils Marketing and Business Development Conference in Washington, DC. I added a slide to my deck near the beginning of my talk to try and get across a growing concern that I have about credit unions and social media.

We all know that there is a lot of hype about the power of social media lately. Credit unions (and every other type of business for that matter) are finally taking note and getting involved in social media. Over the past couple of years, social media, social networking and social media marketing have moved from niche to mainstream.

But it begs the question: Is the typical credit union social media strategy working?

• Many credit unions have added a blog, but without a compelling reason to be, a long-term content creation strategy, dedicated people to contribute to it and adequate on-going promotion, it will sit idle and collect dust
• Next up, a rarely updated Twitter account with very few real local followers—instead the credit union is following other credit unions and credit union insiders and randomly broadcasting its hours and rates
• Add in a Facebook fanpage with the same industry fans and same lack of compelling content and interaction
• And finally a YouTube channel with a couple of barely viewed corporate videos

These vacant social media outposts become the equivalent of digital tumbleweeds blowing through the vast desert.

"Is your credit union utilizing social media?"

"Oh yeah! We've got a blog and we're on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube!"

This hands-off, low-impact, toe-in-the-water appoach reminds me of a quote that I heard from a friend, "It's like peeing in a dark suit. You may notice, but nobody else will!"

I call this check mark social media marketing and it's not necessarily doomed to fail, but it is doomed to not do a whole lot and ultimately turn credit unions off of social media.

Tim

Thing 23 of 30: Hire an Internet celebrity to promote your credit union

Last September, I attempted to write 30 articles in 30 days detailing the things I would implement or consider implementing at my credit union if I was a credit union leader. I got to 22 and then proceeded to be buried by work for the next few months. I hate leaving things unfinished, so I'm going to get this list done over the next little while!

Thing 23 of 30: Hire an Internet celebrity to promote your credit union

The concept of a celebrity spokesperson is one of the oldest marketing concepts. The reason this marketing strategy is still around is because it works. People relate to people not companies or products.

Most credit unions likely haven't considered hiring a celebrity pitchman because of the huge talent cost and the additional high cost of placing ads on TV.

Enter the web celeb and online video. There are powerhouse personlities on YouTube with audiences that dwarf mainstream media. I'll bet you haven't heard of Fred Figglehorn, Lauren Luke, Shane Dawson, Dave Days, Esmee Denters, Jessica Lee Rose, Tay Zonday, Ryan Higa, Justin Bieber and the countless other YouTube celebs, but trust me, your kids have.

Warning: Some of the videos created by the above personalities may not be safe for work and will likely leave you scratching your head, but trust me, these and other popular video creators generate hundreds of millions of video views. And many of these folks have transitioned to promoting companies and products.

I know you are questioning my sanity, but stay with me. I first wrote about my favorite web celebs Rhett and Link almost two years ago when I discovered that they had been hired to promote Alka Seltzer. The Great American Road Trip campaign was awesome, but I think that their latest campaign is even more brilliant. It's called I Love Local Commercials. Microbilt, a technology company specializing in small business software, has hired Rhett and Link to produce free commercials for companies across the US. Read the FAQs for the low down.

Well last week, they debuted their latest creation, a 90-second web commercial for Bucks First Federal Credit Union in Pennsylvania.

After just five days, this video is now the most watched credit-union-related video of all time with more than 160,000 views. In fact, a companion behind-the-scenes video also has more than 130,000 views!

So before you dismiss this idea, why not do some research to see if there is a popular web celeb in your backyard that would be interested in helping you promote your credit union? If I were a credit union leader, I know I would! It could be a very affordable and effective way to get the word out.

Tim

He wore our shirt! Fantastic fun for about $600

As I mentioned yesterday, I rented Jason Sadler's torso (of iwearyourshirt.com fame) to promote Living Young & Free. For $313, we received the use of said torso for the full day of November 17, 2009 (the 313th day of the year). To get the most bang for our buck, we added a life-size cut out of DeAndre', Josh and Myles which ran us $100 plus shipping. Finally, add in the cost of an XL T-Shirt and you've got a $600 media buy beyond compare.

For that price, we received two tweets to Jason's 23,000 Twitter followers...

Mutiple status updates to Jason's 3,000 Facebook friends...

Four Flickr photos...

One hour of live coverage on Ustream.tv...

(If the above video is all black when you press play, hit the refresh button on the lower left)

A wrap up video on YouTube and Facebook...

Four minutes on national live TV on MSNBC...

Plus, we owned Jason's home page for the day...

And if that weren't enough, Jason will be wearing our shirt on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric this coming Monday, November 23. Seriously.

What an absolute gas. Jason Sadler is the hardest working man on the Internet. I cannot believe that he does this seven days a week. What I love is that it is 100% real and authentic. There is no automation (tweeting in advance, auto DMs, etc.). Just one guy being incredibly social!

What's the social media marketing ROI of the above? I have no idea, but $600 seems like a steal to me. Thanks again to Jason Sadler, who will likely be running for U.S. President in 2012.

Tim